Eire Og 3-11 Parnell’s 1-10
Eire Og welcomed Parnell’s to Downhills Park for the quarter-final clash in the Murphy cup. The fixture marked Eire Og’s first competitive match in over a year.
The conditions of the game were difficult as it was a scorcher in North London with temperatures hitting 28 degrees. The home side struggled initially in the heat with Parnell’s scoring 1-03 to no reply in the opening minutes. Eire Og settled after the early setback and Stevie O’Neill led the comeback with a personal tally of 3-02 for the day. Once Eire Og took the lead Tony “TR15” Rogan duly chipped in with 3 points of his own from every part of his boot. The home side led quite comfortably from the start of the second half and had plenty of opportunities to extend the lead towards the end of the game only for some wayward shooting.
Despite the slow start, Eire Og’s tight half-back line marshalled by the evergreen pair, John Whyte and Pat Tobin, were excellent throughout in keeping the opposition at bay and quickly turning over loose ball to spring the counter attack. Ger Crowley battled well throughout the game from the centre of the park and was amongst the best on the day for the home side but it is hard to look past Stevie O’Neill like his namesake from Tyrone who probably has a few match balls himself and his heroics as man of the match. Congratulations to debutants Scott Horner and Conor O’Kane both getting their Eire Og career’s off to a winning start
Credit is due for both sides for playing is such demanding conditions. Next up for Eire Og is TCG in the semi-final of the Murphy cup at Downhills Park at 2pm Sunday 20th September.
Eire Og: D. Hegarty, B. O’Dowd, C. Kearney(C), N. Murray, P. Tobin, J. Whyte, R. Campfield, G. Crowley, D. Cotter, J. Keneghan, A. Rogan, C. Conroy, S. O’Neill, E. Kelly, J. McMahon. Sub used. P. O’Keeffe, C. Kenny, R. Collins, S. Horner